The musings and offerings of a burgeoning greetings master

Friday, February 27, 2015

Mr Cardmaker is Leaping, Baby

I find the "Leap Year Baby" thing to be a crazy thing. There are these people wandering around who only get a real birthday every four years, when February 29 decides to appear on the calendar.

Gilbert and Sullivan based a whole operetta about it in Pirates of Penzance, and I feel like it was very nice of them to give these people at least that. Kevin Kline, Rex Smith, Angela Lansbury, and Linda Ronstadt did a really pretty and fun movie version of it some years ago.



You can see the song here! http://youtu.be/XXhJKzI1u48


ANYWAY--

My friend Mark is one of these folks. His wife, Lina, contacted me, and asked me to come up with something to celebrate his "sort-of" birthday this weekend.

I made this--

I went to my new favorite stamps and got out my little "Peter Lorre" chick.  I decided he needed to see if he could drag a wayward (yet glamorous) "29" and a happy birthday message into February, before March 1 could get in and muck things up for him.

Looks like he's got his work cut out for him, doesn't it?

About ten seconds into discussing what Lina had in mind for this card, I knew EXACTLY where I was going with it.
I had the BEST time, stacking up the date tags and decking out that "29" with both gold and silver embossing.


I went with my trick of making those HUGE eyeballs shiny with some Glossy Accents, and added in the beak, because, well, because shiny!
I managed some extra shine by using embossing the months in silver and gold powders, too, and by clear embossing the "happy" die cut.

Lots of fun with Distress Inks, and lots of gold and brown scraps from the stash.

Oh, and inside--


I stacked up the sentiment in such a way that Lina could hand write in a "sort of" after the word "happy' or in front of "wishes", if she feels like it, or she can just leave it as is. Our friend the chick is light enough to write on top of, I think.

21 comments:

  1. For some reason, as much as my mind is neat and orderly and all lined up, I always have a soft spot for collage - I LOVE it, and this card is collage for me....wonderful collage. I even like the bird this time because having that number under his little wing is genius!! The colors are out of this world. The textures delight. Jeez, I really love this card! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a hilarous idea! I just love it! Since I have a niece who is a leap year baby I might have to borrow the idea. For next year since this year's card is already in the mail. Or actually for 2017 since next year IS leap year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is SO CUTE!! I just love that forlorn looking little bird and all of your layering and stacking is absolutely amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Even if you had put the same lil' sweat glossies on this bird, it sure would've fit. The theme, the look--everything about this card is ingenious. Which brings me to....... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, a very ingenioussssssss paraDOX!

    ReplyDelete
  5. There's the bird again... Oh, I DO love it! And this card is absolutely stunning - the color palette alone blows me away!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another wonderful card! It's perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This card is fabulous! Love the design behind it and what a great fun stamp. TFS

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fantastic card for this special birthday. Super fun layers and I love the number confusion along the front and the look on that bird's face captures that perfectly!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a wonderful card for his special leap year birthday! Love the collage look and adore that bird!!!!! Too fun!

    ReplyDelete
  10. OMG....I'm seriously lacking words right now. This card is over the top awesome! I've been to your blog periodically throughout the weekend and I haven't been able to leave comments because i hate to be repetitive, but holy crap...you rock!!! Your latest posts have just been incredible. I'm beyond inspired and truly challenged to push myself creatively. Love your designs and colors and layouts and THIS birthday card...LOLOLOL....love this so much!!!
    Okay, so I found a few words to describe....
    Awesome job. Keep it up!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. oh my GOSH!!! I always love your cards but this one is so imaginative, so humorous, so creative and surprising!!! Your friend had better keep this forever because it is over-the-top awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a fun card ... too cute ,
    love the color and the textures !

    ReplyDelete
  13. Adorable! My dad and mom married on Feb 29th. Which a source of joking every non-leap year. He would bring her a gift, and she always said where's the other one? We don't know which day (28 th or 1st) the extra time falls on. So we should celebrate both. He would chuckle, and say technically we only have one every 4th year, so this is a just because gift. They always enjoyed the playfulness of it. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Awwww....this sweet lil' chubby bird is my fav! Isn't he just so cute! Great project and love the color and use of this funny bird. Thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love him! He does look like Peter Lorre! Love All the layering and Texure.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wonderful card for your friend's birthday. Congrats on being selected for Tim's Blogworthy Links.

    ReplyDelete
  17. LOL! Peter Lorre chick. I love that you added GA to the eyeballs, too Such a great card, Richard!
    And congrats on the shout out from Tim Holtz!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Richard!! I'm madly in love with this!! I came across the Tim Holtz post today for another reason and had to click on your link to get a closer look. Love the message you created with all the stacked numbers and layers ... way better than a "happy birthday" stamped on a card, right?! So very creative and clever.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments mean so much. Thanks for taking the time!